The Legendary Mechanic, page 463
However, after listening to the explanation of the other players who had joined the army, they realized that they were completely wrong. They needed to file for an application if they wanted to join the secret war. If they were not willing to join the secret war, the army would not force them, and they could choose not to trigger that storyline.
The players who did not join the war would be ordinary mercenaries in the Black Star Army, and they can choose the missions that they wanted to do while enjoying the benefits of the army.
Furthermore, they were surprised to realize that the Black Star Army was an upper echelon of the Mercenary League. They would be able to trigger the Main Storyline mission of the Mercenary League as well, so joining the Black Star Army was akin to giving them the choice between two Main Storyline missions.
There were some other players who wanted to participate in the Main Storyline mission on Planet Deirdre—helping the Odegen Financial Group chase away galactic pirates in the vicinity.
However, they were shocked to realize that the Odegen Financial Group had actually cancelled this mission. The Main Storyline mission of Planet Deirdre had mysteriously disappeared!
After asking around, the players finally understood what had happened. After all the galactic pirates in the vicinity of Planet Deirdre caught wind of the Black Star Army’s arrival, they immediately abandoned all their bases and escaped.
These galactic pirates were all frightened away by the Black Star Army!
There was not a need to even hesitate.
In just three days, over ninety percent of the players on Planet Deirdre had chosen to join the Black Star Army.
The benefits of the Black Star Army were truly too alluring to the new players. Not only was there a large amount of equipment and tools, they also had a full set of basic and advanced knowledge. There was no need for them to farm for NPC favorability all around to learn that knowledge.
The current level and needs of the players were akin to the players in Version 1.0, but they could enjoy the benefits of Version 3.0. This was an irresistible temptation that the players could not reject.
As Sylvia recruited the players on Planet Deirdre, Han Xiao’s interface received all the benefits.
The first thing all those new players did was learn knowledge.
He had the reward from the [Bloodline] mission, a Political Asset, and received a thirty percent bonus for experience. His experience pool, which had dried up, was very quickly replenished, and he had sufficient experience to level up once again.
After expanding his crops, the speed of harvesting experience had increased greatly. According to this efficiency, level 240 was not too far away.
The players in the army could be split into two different groups. The first were those who had reached Grade B and the second were the new players who had an average level of 20 to 30.
While the spending power of the new players could not match the old players, they had a huge hidden demand. Han Xiao decided to allow them to remain on Planet Deirdre and not force them to participate in the secret war. With their current strength, completing recruitment missions might be more efficient than participating in the secret war.
The Mercenary League’s Main Storyline mission would be more suitable for those newbies.
Han Xiao then thought to himself, The player market has doubled, and all these new players will have to learn all the various knowledge from scratch. However, their levels are still low, so I must groom them slowly.
Class Knowledge was a necessity, and the new players would have to learn them eventually. He was not in a rush at all. Ring ring!
His communicator suddenly rang; it was Ralph.
“Black Star, I heard that you set up a branch in the Gelock Star Cluster,” Ralph inquired.
You sure receive news very quickly. Do you have any issues?” Han Xiao raised his brows.
“Cough cough, I am only asking out of curiosity.” Ralph coughed dryly.
In truth, Purple Crystal hoped that the Black Star Army would always remain in Colton and did not wish for them to expand outward. However, this was not the time to talk about this.
Han Xiao then asked, “Why have you called?”
Ralph’s expression then turned solemn, and he said, “It’s like this. We received news that the Crimson Dynasty and Federation of Light have come to an initial agreement. We do not have much time left and must speed up our progress.”
The negotiations are about to be over?
The secret war would be over when the Crimson Dynasty and Federation of Light completed their negotiations. It was no wonder that Purple Crystal was feeling anxious.
“What is the reaction of Bloodshed Land?”
“They have become more active and sent out all their high-level combatants,” Ralph said. “Without your presence to suppress them, we have suffered quite a huge loss.”
Han Xiao immediately understood what was going on. Jorde had been misled by him, resulting in such a situation.
“We urgently need you to return to the battlefield. We are planning to launch another large-scale mission. Black Star, we need you to…”
At this moment, Han Xiao interrupted him. “I am sorry. I do not wish to participate in the upcoming mission.”
Ralph was stunned. Black Star was an important part of their strategy. If Han Xiao did not want to go, would that not disrupt their entire strategy?
Han Xiao thought for a moment and said, “You should know that regardless of the outcome, Heber definitely won’t let me off.”
Ralph fell silent. Purple Crystal did indeed know about this but did not inform Han Xiao about it. It was not that they did not care about Han Xiao’s life and death. However, the upper echelons were extremely pragmatic and would make use of Han Xiao as much as they could.
Seven years ago, Purple Crystal had recognized Han Xiao’s potential and begun to invest in him. However, seven years had gone by, and the upper echelons of Purple Crystal no longer thought that much of his potential after witnessing his growth stagnate.
Although they still placed great importance on him, the thoughts of the upper echelons had changed, and they no longer felt that Han Xiao would become a Beyond Grade A Super.
Purple Crystal would not allow the Tyrant to take revenge on one of their meritorious subjects, but the upper echelons had their own considerations. Although the chances of Black Star becoming a Beyond Grade A Super had been lowered, he was still a peak Calamity Grade Super, and there was still value in roping him in. Thus, they wished for Black Star to seek protection from them when the Tyrant took action. This would improve the relationship between both parties and would be extremely beneficial to the upper echelons.
As for the safety of Black Star, Purple Crystal was not too worried. Black Star had the Dragon Emperor behind him, and their presence was like the icing on the cake. They might also have a chance to form a relationship with Ames because of it.
Han Xiao was not too bothered by this. Both parties were only working together for their respective benefits, and Purple Crystal did not owe him anything. He slowly said, “Thus, I have to think of a way to break past the Calamity Grade bottleneck in this remaining time.”
“I understand.”
Since Han Xiao had laid his cards out openly, Ralph did not force the matter.
As for the situation in the secret war, Ralph understood it extremely clearly. Purple Crystal knew that they would not be able to chase out all the enemies and would probably lose a portion of their territory near the border. Their retaliation was only an attempt to reduce their losses.
Under such circumstances, Han Xiao’s refusal to participate in the war was something that Purple Crystal could accept.
Black Star probably knows this as well and thus made such a request… Ralph thought to himself and felt that Black Star was only finding an excuse.
After remaining stagnant for a full seven years, he did not think that Han Xiao would be able to make a breakthrough in the near future.
However, there was no need for him to spell things out so clearly.
“I will convey your message to the upper echelons,” Ralph said. “However, you can choose to be absent, but your Black Star Army must still participate.”
“Naturally.”
Han Xiao then heaved a sigh of relief after hanging up.
Purple Crystal and Bloodshed Land temporarily would not bother him, and he would be able to pull out of the secret war and find some talents to prepare for Beyond Grade A.
Chapter 739. Guests |
Molding Talents were something that could not be obtained easily, and Han Xiao had obtained all his Molding Talents through abnormal means.
Although the [Prey] mission was a good chance to obtain a talent, he had not triggered the next phase of the mission after such a long time. He almost thought that Thousand Shadows had given up on him. However, the mission had not ended, so Han Xiao did not know what was going on. Thus, he naturally could not count on it.
There were many different missions for him to obtain talents in his memories, but the rewards were usually ordinary talents. There were not many rare talents, and Han Xiao had to consider which missions he should do.
He first struck out all the missions outside of the Shattered Star Ring.
Some talents did not really increase his combat capabilities and would only waste his time. He also eliminated those.
After striking out all the missions that he deemed unsuitable, Han Xiao picked a few more valuable missions.
Although the talents from those missions would not be able to cause his combat capability to have an earth-shattering change, it would still increase his combat capability to a certain extent.
I will probably need a few months to complete these missions… The war won’t be over so soon, so I should have enough time…
He was currently level 221 and would need to complete a Class Advancement at level 225. He had saved a few Mission Completion Cards during the version update period, and he still had a few leftovers after using one at level 220. Thus, he was only lacking experience points.
The amount of experience needed after level 220 increased exponentially, but with his two plots of crops, he would only need a few months to accumulate enough experience.
He could complete some missions while waiting for his experience to accumulate.
Han Xiao then called Hila, Aurora, and Feidin over to explain his plans to them.
“Right.” Han Xiao suddenly thought about something and said to Aurora, “Help me create some recovery medicine. I want to give them to the high-level officers of the army. It should be able to save their lives during a critical moment.”
The Bloodshed Land had begun to go all out. In order to prevent the upper echelons of the army from getting injured, he wanted to provide them with some protection. Aurora’s life force medicine had a divine effect and was akin to a second life.
Aurora was able to freely control her Esper abilities already, and creating medicine would not cause too much exhaustion.
“No problem!”
Aurora was extremely excited. I can finally be of some help!
Hila originally wanted to persuade her otherwise, but upon seeing Aurora’s excited appearance, she chose to remain silent.
Since it was Han Xiao’s request and was not too difficult, she decided to just let Aurora do as she wished. She had personally witnessed Aurora’s growth, and she was no longer as overprotective as before.
Han Xiao spent a day settling all that he needed to before taking the three on his journey to farm for talents.
Three black, curved spaceships exited the desolate universe belt and entered the Shattered Star Ring from some deserted region.
In the cabin of the leading spaceship, Colin looked out of the window and spat out a rotten fruit from his mouth. His mouth was filled with purple juice from the fruit.
“After almost six years of flying, we are finally here.”
As he said that, he slapped the defrost button on the spaceship.
Psh…
A few dozen low temperature life sustaining chambers began to defrost, and the doors to those chambers opened. Cold air filled the entire spaceship, and many people of different heights and races walked out of the chambers.
“We slept for three years?”
“Is it time to change shift, or have we reached?”
Those fellows who had just woken up from their sleep put on their clothes and walked toward the cockpit.
Upon hearing the sound of footsteps, Colin pointed to the star map without turning back. “We have arrived in the Shattered Star Ring. All of you adjust your bodies quickly so that we don’t delay the mission of our boss.”
“Don’t worry, I just need to suck some blood to recover,” a tall, skinny man said while licking his lips.
“Baron Orozen, don’t blame me for throwing you out of the spaceship if you dare touch my subordinates.”
“Why should I listen to you?” the pale-faced Orozen sneered coldly.
“Because I am the captain His Excellency EsGod appointed. Or do you want to fight?” Colin glared ferociously.
Orozen chuckled eerily before shrugging his shoulders to show that he would submit.
Colin then snorted and said, “You’d better behave in a low-profile manner. I remember that you were a fugitive who escaped from the Shattered Star Ring. I don’t what your stupidity from the past to expose our location before the completion of the mission.”Read more chapter on NovelFull
“That bounty was over sixty years ago. It may have been removed already,” Orozen replied indifferently.
Everyone present on those three spaceships were members of Fallen Ark and were wanted criminals from different Star Fields. They had all been sent out to complete a mission in the Shattered Star Ring.
Colin had the nickname ‘Corrosive Poison’ and was the captain of this team. He had once spread a plaque in many different colonial planets in the Ancient Star Desert, which had resulted in the death of over three billion people. He was a wanted criminal of twenty-three Star System civilizations and two Star Cluster civilizations. He had then joined Fallen Ark and followed EsGod.
Orozen had the nickname ‘Baron’ and belonged to the blood race. He was another Grade A Super in the team and had hunted in many different Star Fields. He was an extremely ferocious character and was a wanted criminal in five different Star Fields.
Especially the Shattered Star Ring.
He had once eaten a high-level official during the ceremony of a Star System civilization in front of the entire Star System. That incident had caused a huge commotion, and he had joined EsGod after escaping from the Shattered Star Ring.
This group of individuals had set off six years ago and had only just reached the Shattered Star Ring. As wanted criminals, they would not dare to openly use stargates and spent most of their time in the desolate universe belt.
These three ‘Light Marten’ spaceships were equipped with top grade hyperdrive engines and were created specifically for travel between Star Fields. The ship’s highest speed was level 17.89 warp speed. If it travelled within a Star Field at top speed, it would be able to travel from one Star System to another within minutes.
Although the lowest grade among the group was a Grade B Super, they needed to rest in a life sustaining chamber in order to endure the load from travelling at warp speed.
This small team was only able to travel through various Star Fields to arrive at the Shattered Star Ring by relying on a warp speed engine.
One of his subordinates then asked, “Captain, which mission shall we complete first?”
They had two different missions in the Shattered Star Ring.
“Are you an idiot? Of course we’ll take care of the easier one first!” Colin replied impatiently. He then opened a file on the holographic screen.
There was information about two individuals in the file, Harrofal and Han Xiao.
They were the two of joint hands to deal with EsGod.
“Harrofal, Grade A Super in the Tyla Civilization, vice principal of the Tyla Mechanic School. He is a researcher.
“Black Star, Han Xiao. The leader of the Black Star Army and ally of Purple Crystal. A Beyond Grade A seed… Eh? This fellow’s battle record had been updated again. He is a powerful individual and is said to be one of the top fighters among the Calamity Grade Supers in the Shattered Star Ring.”
Orozen smiled calmly upon hearing those words. “Black Star? I never heard of such a character when I was in the Shattered Star Ring. He is no more than a newbie who only appeared recently.
“The Shattered Star Ring is only a remote Star Field,” Colin said emotionlessly. “The strength of the Supers in this place cannot be compared to the three Star Fields in the Central Galaxy.”
Colin and the others who usually spent their time in the Central Galaxy looked down on the Supers from a remote Star Field like the Shattered Star Ring. As the most ferocious criminals in the galaxy, they were all used to being arrogant, and they did not even place some Beyond Grade A Supers in their sights.
Since seven years ago, EsGod had been muttering about trees every day. They all felt that EsGod’s mental illness must have become worse for him to send them to the Shattered Star Ring to find the coordinates of some wormhole.
“Harrofal will have the data that we want, so he is the key target,” Colin said. “If we can get the data successfully, we won’t have to find Black Star. After all, Harrofal is much easier to deal with than Black Star.”
Everyone nodded.
“We can then steal the Evolution Cube after completing our first mission.”
Chapter 740. Swaggering through the Novice Village |
After a few days of travelling, the Blacklight Stealth arrived at the spot reserved for it at their destination.
The view from inside the porthole showed a planet with green vegetation and yellow earth. Blue oceans could be seen on the planet’s surface, but the yellow earth made up the majority.
Aurora stared at the planet curiously.
